The invention relates to improvements in protective headgear such as football helmets, motorcycle and bicycle helmets, and helmets for other activities where protection from head impact and injury is desirable. The invention also relates to protective pads, particularly chin pads.
Protective helmets to minimize head injuries have been known and used for many years. For example, football helmet shells have been produced from injection molded ABS, or polycarbonate plastic. Helmets intended for youth usage have usually been produced from ABS plastic, and helmets for adult usage have usually been produced from polycarbonate plastic. ABS plastic is significantly less expensive than polycarbonate, but ABS plastic is not as structurally rigid as polycarbonate. As the level of intensity of contact in youth football is significantly lower than that at the adult level, ABS has been accepted as a satisfactory material for use at the youth level. For adult helmets, however, the structural rigidity of the polycarbonate material is essential to minimize the flex and deformation of the shell under extreme impact conditions.
The National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) has been responsible for setting minimal performance criteria for football helmets. The minimum standard acceptance level measured by the Severity Index (SI) is set at 1200. Through the continuous testing of NOCSAE, it has been established that the rigidity of polycarbonate shells, in comparison to ABS shells, leads to significantly lower IS results. From these tests, it is believed that there is a correlation between the rigidity of the shell material and improved safety performance.
Protection can also be improved by the addition of a face mask attached to the helmet. For example, football helmets are usually equipped over the exposed face area with a vinyl coated wire or other metal structure, or an injection molded plastic face mask. The obvious purpose of the face mask is to protect the face of the player from injury, while not obstructing the players' vision unnecessarily. The addition of a face mask can also increase the rigidity of the shell which improves the SI performance. Helmets are usually tested without face masks so that the SI performance of a helmet with the mask will somewhat exceed the test standard.
Face masks have been mounted to the exterior surface of the helmet shell behind the front edge of the helmet face opening. This design can, under certain conditions, contribute to serious injury. Helmet shells are specifically designed with smooth spherical surfaces to allow the shells to glance and slide on impact. The mounting of the face mask on the outer surface creates the potential that the masks of two players hitting could become engaged as their helmets are glancing, changing the directional forces and causing the potential for serious injury.
Protective helmets usually include a chin strap to hold the helmet on, particularly during impact. In the past, chin straps were frequently constructed using a molded plastic cup made of compression or injection-molded plastic material. A pad, usually of a felt or foam material, was bonded or otherwise attached to the plastic cup. This cup construction is preferable to non-padded chin straps which have been standard equipment on football helmets. Non-padded chin straps do not offer any impact protection to the chin area, and only serve to secure the helmet to the player's head. Padded chin cups provide an added measure of protection to the chin from impacts, in addition to securing the helmet to the player's head.
Improvement in the impact absorption performance of padded chin straps is desirable. Most molded plastic chin cups currently used are molded in a manner which allows the formed cup to flex upon impact. An improved construction is a rigid material which does not flex on impact to an undesirable degree, thus distributing the impact force over a larger area of the chin.
One key to improved SI performance is related to the stiffness of the protective shell. The invention provides helmet shells which can increase the rigidity of the shell, resulting in improved SI performance. An additional and significant benefit can be a substantial reduction of weight in comparison to the current plastic shells being produced. These same methods and structures may be applied to protective headgear other than football helmets, and to chin cups.
The present inventor is one of the inventors of U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,493, issued on Oct. 1, 2001 to Schiebl et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,493 describes a protective headgear that comprises a rigid shell with face pads that can be released and removed while the headgear is still on a person's head. A protective chin guard is attached to the headgear by way of the face pads. The chin guard includes a substantially rigid shell with a removable insert made of a flexible bladder filled with a shock-absorbing fluid. The headgear includes a shell made of an inner and outer material layered over an internal foam core to effect both strength and light weight.
Existing chin straps are usually separately prepared for attachment to either the high hookup or the low hookup of a football helmet. The user of the football helmet will often desire that the chin strap have different orientations to fit the desires of the wearer and the configuration of the face of the wearer. Additionally, whether the wearer uses a high hookup or a low hookup will depend upon the desired amount of protective performance desired from the chin strap. Unfortunately, conventional chin straps cannot be interchangeably adapted to the high hookup or the low hookup configurations.
In other circumstances, the cup associated with the protective shell of the chin strap has an imperfect fit with the wearer's chin. In certain circumstances, the user may desire to have enhanced protection against impacts. The wearer may desire a more comfortable fit with the cup of the shell of the protective chin strap. Existing chin straps do not offer the degree of adjustability desired by the user so as to fit the performance and comfort goals of the user.
Often, the cup of the chin strap has a peripheral edge which bears against the skin of the user. In the event of an impact, this edge can bruise the chin of the user. In the event of a severe impact, the peripheral edge of the protective shell of the chin strap can cause adverse impacts to the face of the user. As such, a need has developed whereby the edge of the shell of the cup of the chin strap be fully cushioned and protected from the skin of the wearer.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a chin guard apparatus which maximizes the protection and comfort of the user.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a chin strap apparatus which enhances the degree of protection against the peripheral edge of the rigid shell of the cup of the chin guard apparatus.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a chin guard apparatus which allows the user to adapt between different hookup points of the helmet.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a chin guard apparatus whereby the cushion of the cup can be adapted to properly fit the facial configuration and desires of the user.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a chin guard apparatus that enhances shock absorption on the exterior surface of the protective shell of the chin guard.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a chin guard apparatus to provide air circulation with the skin of the user.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a chin guard apparatus whereby the straps associated with the apparatus can display team indicia and/or advertising.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims.